The Wilmington College football team closed out the home portion of their 2015 season with a 55-21 loss to Ohio Northern Saturday in Ohio Athletic Conference action on Townsend Field in Williams Stadium.
In the final game for eight Wilmington seniors, it was a pair of sophomores that turned in career performances for the Fightin' Quakers.
Quarterback Luke Creditt (Wilmington, OH/Waynesville) shook off a slow start to throw for a career-high 281 yards, 249 in the second half, on 21-of-30 passing with three touchdowns. He was sacked five times and threw four interceptions.
Receiver Aroyal Wright (Cincinnati, OH/Newport (KY)) registered his third 100-yard game of the season with a career-high 158 yards on seven receptions and one touchdown.
The Fightin' Quakers racked up 259 of their 365 yards in the second half.
"It's good to see our offense do something in the second half and move the ball; have some success," said Wilmington head coach Stacey Hairston. "But at the same time, the game is out of reach. We have to move the ball and put a drive like that early in the game."
Third down conversations told the story for Wilmington as Ohio Northern scored three touchdowns in the first quarter to take control of the game. The Polar Bears converted all five of their third downs on the three scoring drives, while Wilmington was 0-for-6 in the first half.
"We talked about it going into the game that we had to win first and second down, which we did early in the game, and when it gets to third down we have to step up and make a play," said Hairston. "Most of our mistakes on the first four or five drives, unfortunately, came on third down. At some point in time we have to make a play. Our game plan worked out fairly well, now we have to execute."
Ohio Northern added a second quarter score and two more scored early in the third quarter before Wilmington got on the board with a 26-yard scoring strike from Creditt to Wright. The Polar Bears added two more touchdowns before the Fightin' Quakers rounded out the scoring.
Senior Jason Phillips (Etiwanda, CA/Etiwanda), the team's starting middle linebacker, hauled in his only career reception – a diving 10-yarder for a score and senior Justin Lee (Middletown, OH/Madison) hauled in a 32-yard pass in the fourth quarter. Lee finished with a team-high eight catches for 92 yards and the aforementioned score.
Junior running back Chase Manica (Shelbyville, KY/Shelby County) led the team with 56 yards rushing on 12 carries.
Defensively, junior David Henry (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) had 12 tackles with two tackles for loss, both sacks, and a quarterback hurry.
"All year, David has been a force; causing people trouble," said Hairston. "It's amazing he doesn't get more calls against him, holding calls because they have to hold him. Anybody that we face has to pay attention to where David is. He is a difference-maker, and I am glad he is on our side."
Senior Tarrell Starckey (Richmond, VA/Highland Springs) added 10 tackles and senior Nick Williams (Cleveland, OH/Fairview) recorded eight tackles and a sack.
Wilmington (1-8 overall, 0-8 OAC) travels to Muskingum Saturday for the season finale.
